The question isn’t have you seen the latest childhood obesity ads from Strong4Life, but do you have an opinion to add to all of those floating around?

While there seems to be a general consensus in the dialogue about this controversial campaign, that these ads have missed the mark in being particularly effective from a behavior change standpoint, these ads have also come under fire for further stigmatizing children who are struggling with obesity or are overweight. This is where I disagree—or at least where I become confused.

Image: Children's Healthcare of Atlanta

How do these ads further stigmatize children who are obese or overweight? These ads highlight the unfortunate plight of these children who state that they don’t like to go to school because they get picked on, or that they prefer solitary play (e.g. video games) because of the teasing of other children in other settings—or the clearly disturbed question of a young boy who asks his mother: “Mom, why am I fat?”. I’m not clear how these dramatizations are pointing fingers at these children or how they further add to the stigma associated with overweight or obesity. In fact, these ads very powerfully use the stigma these children are already facing to call attention to the issue. Perhaps that is the greatest strength of these ads—they startle us, and make us face an issue through the eyes of the children that are affected. They cut through the clutter and compel.

Where they admittedly fall short is utilizing that attention they’ve garnered to deliver a strong call to action around what can be done to help prevent overweight and obesity. A truly missed opportunity.

My apologies to Shakespeare, but the recent The Year in News 2011put out by The Pew Research Center for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) is helping me answer that question. PEJ has been putting out their analysis for five years and it is an excellent tool to help us media relations professions better understand what’s hot and what’s not in news and therefore appropriately tailor our pitches. Despite the herd mentally usually ascribed to media scribes, PEJ does point to differences, albeit subtle.

Here are my takeaways:

If you got a hard news story, pitch it to CBS over NBC or ABC. Conversely, if you have a lifestyle, celebrity to sports angle, first pitch ABC, then NBC before you bug CBS with it. That goes for morning shows or their evening newscasts. ABC was particularly keen on celebrities last year.

With international stories, your best bet is the NewsHour on PBS. On average, 39% of the NewsHour show was devoted to foreign events and U.S. foreign policy, compared with 28% in the media sample generally, according to PEJ’s report. Read the rest of this entry »

When I arrived home for the holidays, I rifled through my bookcase looking for a good read. I stumbled upon a book I had purchased for a psychology class in college, “Learned Optimism,” by Martin Seligman, Ph.D.

A professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and past president of the American Psychological Association, Seligman describes a number of scientific experiments and groundbreaking theories in this book. But there were two ideas that resonated with me, and that I believe can be applied to the work we do in social marketing:

1.Optimism is integral to overcoming barriers to success.

Seligman posits that how an individual thinks about and explains an event (one’s explanatory style) strongly influences his reaction to that event. Seligman explains that while a pessimistic explanatory style can produce depression in response to everyday setbacks, an optimistic explanatory style can produce resilience in the face of tragedy. While this may sound obvious to cognitive behavioral therapists, even they may be surprised by how strongly optimism correlates with overcoming adversity and barriers to success.

By examining how individuals think about and explain good and bad events, Seligman was able to:

Help insurance companies recruit persistent salespeople who could outsell their peers;

Assist coaches in identifying baseball players who could perform under late-inning pressure; and

Predict Senate seat winners with unprecedented accuracy.

What did winning salespeople, baseball players, and Senate candidates all have in common? They were all optimists.

2.Optimism can be learned.

Even those who instinctively lean towards pessimistic explanatory styles can learn to be optimists. Seligman offers a host of tactics to help individuals think about obstacles differently, empowering them to react to stumbling blocks in life more positively and bounce back from larger obstacles more quickly than before. One technique Seligman recommends is that pessimists learn to argue with themselves, offering evidence that disputes negative beliefs that lead to negative actions. For example, if Jane believes that she is a failure because she had one cigarette after pledging to quit, she can contradict this belief by reminding herself of the many ways in which she is a success—she was just promoted at her job, has a great relationship with her kids, and is happily married. By thinking about herself in this new and different way, Jane is more likely to reinvigorate her commitment to quitting than give into temptation the next time she craves a cigarette.

What are the implications for social marketers?

I believe that optimism can play a powerful role in driving behavior change. When designing interventions, we often think about how to mitigate barriers to action, like cost, inconvenience, and accessibility. But could pessimism be a barrier that has slipped under our radar? Can we leverage optimism where it exists and foster it where it doesn’t? What implications do you think this has for the way we target audiences, identify influencers, develop messaging, or create materials?

Yesterday I attended a roundtable luncheon called Powerful PSAs, sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters, TV Access, Nielsen, and Crosby Marketing Communications.

After a year of working in public service messaging through my work on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Inside Knowledge and Screen for Life campaigns, I was intrigued by the invitation and compelled to attend. My goal was to walk away with nuggets of wisdom on how to improve our PSA production methods and distribution techniques in the future.

The session kicked off with a panel of radio and television broadcasters from Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc.; WBAL-TV 11 in Baltimore, MD; NBC Universal Entertainment Group; Black Entertainment Network; and WUSA-9 in Washington, DC.

After listening to the panelists give their insights on “what works,” I realized there isn’t a ‘one-size fit all’ solution when it comes to production elements or getting your PSA placed. While the local station PSA directors on the panel said they value PSAs that provide community angles, the network station PSA directors noted that they value PSAs that are more ‘evergreen’ with national messaging.

Here are six take-aways from the luncheon:

PSA directors are overwhelmed: One panelist estimated that a director can receive almost 58 or more requests per day. She asked social marketing practitioners in the audience to be patient.

Go beyond broadcast: With limited air time and PSAs always competing for space with paid ads, relying solely on broadcast channels to air your PSAs could be a mistake. One panelist suggested looking at the PSA as a public service message that can be shared through other mediums such as the Internet and conveyed to audiences through earned media and partnerships as well.

PSAs should be well-produced and submitted to stations in formats they use: All the panelists agreed that a PSA of poor quality will end up in the rejection pile every time. One sure-fire way to ensure yours does not is to make sure the PSA is high quality and produced in several formats (so that you can send station directors the format of their choosing). The growing trend is to air shorter versions such as a :15 or :20 format, however PSAs in :30 and :60 format are considered to be the most popular.

Partnerships are the way to go: Finding out which “causes” the station has historically supported could help your PSA to get on the air. Many stations have causes they support, so considering a partnerships with stations that already support your issue is a viable option for ensuring your message is heard.

Directors are wary of PSAs funded by corporations: All of the panelists noted that commercial ads disguised as PSAs is a growing trend in the fight for air time. PSA directors are resistant to playing PSAs that may ultimately generate funds to a corporation. Instead, they would prefer to air PSAs that have a true call to action for consumers that does not involve a corporation in any way.

Craft your pitch: While the panelists varied on how they liked to receive a pitch, the one consistent message was to keep it brief and leave off the Word attachments (they aren’t reading them!). The pitch should make the case for how the issue affects the station’s audience. While your PSA may not make it on the air you can position your campaign or client as a resource on the issue, in case a news director is in need of commentary.

What do you think about these tips? Based on your experiences, which tip resonates with you the most?

“Proceed until apprehended,” the rallying principle for social media experimentation & execution shared by Brandon Friedman, Director of Online Communications for the Department of Veterans Affairscaptured the pioneering spirit of all of the panelists from the October 6th Ogilvy Exchange: Can the Department of Defense realize the full power of social media? The experienced panel of practitioners – rounded out by Jack Holt, former Senior Strategist for emerging Media at the Department of Defense, and Lieutenant Commander Chris Servello, Director of Emerging Media for the US Navy’s Chief of Information – shared very practical tales from the trenches for applying social media to some of the government and DoD’s most difficult communications challenges.

Lessons & LinksSocial greatness comes from the inside out – Jack Holt shared a number of helpful lessons, but thematically returned multiple times to something often overlooked – it is critical to embrace the principles of better interaction and connection internally before the promise of social media engagement with external constituents can be fully realized.

Even small engagements are important. If you visit the Department of Veterans Affairs remarkable Facebook page, you will see 1×1 questions and customer service being addressed in a very “public” forum. Take a read through the discussions and see if that changes your impressions of the Department.

There is power in speaking directly to your audiences – Last week, LCDR Servello’s group at Navy released a YouTube video of the new F-35 fighter landing on the USS Wasp. This brief video clip has racked up a remarkable 200k+ view on YouTube in a week of release with no traditional media aircover – overwhelming evidence that there is an audience for the stories the Navy has to tell. Social media empowers them to speak directly to their audience in the same venue where they can carry the story forward to their networks. Read the rest of this entry »

Nielsen reported recently that social networks and blogsites now account for more than 22 percent of Americans’ time spent online, more than twice than that of online gaming. To put that in perspective, Nielsen lists 75 categories as “other,” which combined accounts for only 35 percent of Americans’ time online. Read the full report here: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/social.

The enormous communications power of this medium is indisputable. So what does this mean for an organization like Department of Defense (DoD) and the individual military services?

Clearly social networking provides enormous potential for increasing awareness of the military’s core activities, for recruiting, for informing Servicemembers, Veterans, and the general public quickly and efficiently on benefits, programs, and services. But there are obvious downsides as well. How transparent can or should DoD be? Where do you draw the line between security requirements and the desire for Servicemembers to be active online ambassadors? Is this a matter of education, technology, or some combination?

Ogilvy is excited to host a panel of social media experts from the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs to discuss this topic. You can watch it live via our Facebook page starting at 9:00 am on Thursday, October 6.

Martin Lindstrom’s piece in Saturday’s New York Times highlighted his research on whether consumers were “in love with” or “addicted” to their iPhones, given demonstrations of longing, sensory reaction and separation anxiety. His past research has used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRIs) to compare human responses to imagery from the world’s great religions and its great brands, examining reaction to images of globally-known products and religions; his findings showed that reactions were often comparable. While this article focuses on whether consumers are technically addicted to their iPhones (and other technologies), his work examining activation of the visual and auditory areas of the human brain has relevance to current discussions on neuroscience and the value of storytelling as a communications tool. Whether selling the latest technology, reinforcing a global brand or making a case for behavior change to drive common good, the importance of a strong narrative that evokes an emotional response from consumers is clear.

I recently came across a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which discusses how Americans use government Web sites, and how social media can be integrated into the government’s online presence. The study is over a year old, but given that in the past year alone, social media has sparked social, cultural, and in particular, political revolutions, the findings are still timely. According to this study (which is loaded with information), the government’s role in the online space, and in particular, the social media space, is sure to resonate with its constituents, and especially its minorities.

One finding which particularly struck me was the conclusion that minorities are equally likely to get government information using digital platforms and furthermore, that African Americans and Latinos, compared to whites, are more likely to express positive attitudes towards government engagement in social media. Check out this video by study author Aaron Smith, Research Specialist at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, who briefly explains.

While the study does note that the average government Web site user is affluent, highly educated and White, minorities do still use the internet and social media to obtain government information. In fact, minority Americans were more likely than Whites to believe that government social media outreach makes the government agencies and officials more accessible.

For social marketers who search for the best ways to reach their audiences, and for those of us who work on government campaigns, we can use studies like this to reassure, and encourage, our clients that social media is a viable and valuable option to reach our minority audiences.

The findings are not too surprising, given recent studies that mention that the digital divide is now decreasing, and that more people are now able to get online. But, what’s interesting is the extent to which we embrace social media, so much so, that we’re encouraging our government to collaborate with us in this way. And, according to the report, Americans don’t believe the government is wasting money by using social media. (Surprising, I know).

So, what are some ways that the government can strike a chord with minorities? Well, for starters, begin blogging, friending, and tweeting.

Findings were released yesterday from a survey conducted by Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, in collaboration with The Conference People, prior to the 2nd World Non-Profit and Social Marketing Conference. The survey was conducted to examine trends and issues of social marketing, as well as priorities for the future.

More than 600 marketers, communications experts, and researchers from 40 countries convened at the Conference in Dublin, Ireland, on April 11-12, 2011. The survey, conducted among Conference participants and invitees—including representatives of leading corporations, civic organizations, academic institutions, governmental entities, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)—found that 84% of respondents report that they believe that social marketing is at a critical turning point in driving social change.

The key findings showcase that the application of marketing and communications to support personal behavior and social change is poised to become an increasingly important tool for addressing global health and social issues.

Here are some highlights:

When asked to identify the areas in which social marketing has most advanced societal progress, respondents named:

Looking ahead, respondents identified areas in which they felt that social marketing was most needed to drive future awareness and behavior change. Obesity, chronic illness, and environmental stewardship top the list of emerging priorities.

On June 28, 2011, Google launched its social networking answer to Facebook, Google+. Within the first 2 weeks, this invitation only network amassed 10 million users. Now, a little over a month later, the site has 25 million users and that number continues to grow exponentially.

Like Facebook, Google+ is a platform for consumers to share personalized information with people in their social circles. Eventually, Google+ will offer its users complete integration with all Google products. Products like Google Places, Google Maps and Picasa will seamlessly link into users’ streams and fan out to their networks. First, let’s define the Google+ lingo.

• Streams: The primary way to communicate information on Google+. Streams are status updates that can be shared with friends across circles.
• Circles: An organizational tool that separates those in your social network into easy to identify groups. For a business, circles can separate fans by how frequently they post/comment, their primary interests or their purchasing behavior.
• Hangouts: A video chat feature that allows for two person video conversations, or accommodates a video conference for up to 10 users. Within the next few months, this feature will also include hearing-impaired capabilities.
• Sparks: A stream of search-engine results based off of users’ interests. Sparks is an opportunity to have Google+ search and aggregate videos, pictures, and articles based on the user’s interest.

Google+ for business rolls out later this year. Already, over 10,000 businesses have petitioned Google for a business account. In addition to organizations like Ford Motor Company, Sesame Street, and Mashable, the roster of businesses eager to try Google+ includes law firms, charities, and non-profits. The communication possibilities for social marketers are almost limitless. Read the rest of this entry »